Summary

Technology improvements as packing material with nano coating, compostable bioplastics or special preparation processes of recycled materials increase the variety of packaging possibilities for organic products. As practical experiences show, packaging experts and therefore important know-how are mostly lacking, due to companies´ size in the organic food industry. The project `Sustainable Organic Food Packaging´: A manual for enterprises Project Title (Nr. 08OE060) discusses packaging from the perspective of organic food producers and supports them in finding the suitable packaging. The manual enables organic enterprises to judge packaging concerning technological, economical, ecological, security-relevant and marketing-relevant characteristics. Based on this, they can choose the right packaging. Evaluating the knowledge about existing and new packaging material and assessing their suitability for organic products will provide the basis for the manual. It also contains a comment on the regulatory framework, recommendable practical examples and a discussion on the prospects of sustainable packaging concepts.